People slept in Machu Picchu village's train station and the central plaza after hostels ran out of space, and restaurants raised prices as food became scarce. Travellers "are angry and worried, and some are getting desperate", Ruben Baldeon, the town spokesman, said last night.

A Cuzco government spokesman, Hernet Moscoso, said an Argentinian identified as Lucia Ramallo, 23, and a Peruvian guide, Washington Huaraya, were in their tents when a slope gave way and crushed them yesterday.

The deaths raised to five the number of people killed by rain-triggered floods and landslides in the area, Moscoso said. The spectacular Incan ruins, perched on an Andean mountaintop, are Peru's top tourist destination.

Three other tourists were injured on the Inca trail, a popular trek that follows a stone path built by the Incas to Machu Picchu.

Reports suggest about 400 Americans and 700 Argentinians were among the initial 2,000 travellers stranded.

The Peruvian government said it was optimistic that many more tourists could be rescued today.

The tourism minister, Martin Perez, said that "if God helps us and the weather permits us, we should be able to get out 700 or 800 tourists in eight hours". The US helicopters – stationed in Peru for drug interdiction and police training – joined four Peruvian choppers in the rescue.

The rail operator Perurail also rented two helicopters to bring in supplies and evacuate tourists, the company said.

In Washington, a state department spokesman, PJ Crowley, described the conditions in Peru as difficult.

"We've moved some embassy personnel from Lima to the area as well to try to provide assistance to the Peruvian police and military authorities," he said.

Five days of torrential rains in the Cuzco region have destroyed bridges, 250 houses and hundreds of ahectares of crops.

Alberto Bisbal, disaster prevention director at Peru's Civil Defence Institute, said Perurail and the government were working to clear rock and mud from the tracks, and service could resume today.

The downpours stopped yesterday morning, but meteorologists predicted light rain for the rest of the week.

Machu Picchu is thought to have been built in the 15th century and was hidden for many years until being found by the American explorer Hiram Bingham in 1911.